Warriors: Secrets
by mcat212
Summary: The Clan cats have lived practically peacefully for seasons, but what happens when secrets threaten to tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

Secrets Chapter 1

It was a dark evening and the wind rustled the leaves the trees. A dark gray tom cat made his way through the dark forest, making sure he didn't make too much noise. The sound of the wind normally calmed him, but not tonight. He found his way to a hidden place where a beautiful silver she-cat lie, three tiny bundles of fur pressed to her stomach. The queen had given birth only the day the before. The Clan had sent out search parties to find the missing queen but she had hidden herself well.

"Silverpetal, are you sure you want to do this?" the tom cat meowed in concern.

"I know what I'm doing! Just give me the herbs and be on your way please!" Silverpetal snapped at the tom.

The cat sighed and heaved a bundle of herbs in her direction. "You don't need to do this you know. Your Clan needs you, and the kits. Why would you leave?"

"This must be done. I will miss you terribly." The queen looked at the tom with sympathy and gently stood up and ate the herbs. She nodded her farewells and pressed her nose to the toms affectionately. "May StarClan be with you no matter always. I love you."

With that, she picked up her kits, waved her tail at the tom and ran off. Nothing had ever been that hard for her. She had lost her mother in the claws of an enemy Clan. She had caught greencough many seasons ago when she was only a kit. Nothing was as painful as when she had to say goodbye to the only tom she had ever loved. She ran straight ahead to the border of her territory and her best friend's. This was the best thing for her precious kits. Two beautiful she-kits and a strong tom. She was so proud of them, and she had only known them a day. She knew if her friend came through for her, the she-kits would have a normal life, though their mother would miss them horribly. The tom had to go with her. He looked too much like his father to be able to stay. He wouldn't be loved with the Clans. No, she couldn't do that to him.

An orange she-cat stepped forward at that moment, slowly and sadly. _She must have had her kits. Oh she is bringing one with her! I'll get to see them before leave!_ Silverpetal was happy to be able to see her best friend's kits, but as her friend got closer, she noticed her friend was only carrying one tiny tom kit.

"Dearest, is all well?" Silverpetal meowed.

The other queen just shook her head and laid the young tom down. "Oh Silverpetal! I delivered my kits this morning in the forest, not far from here. That's the only reason I made it this far. I gave birth to two she-kits and one tom. But, my poor she-kits…." she broke off at this and laid on the ground.

"Oh dear. I am so sorry for your loss. They are in StarClan now, looking down on you with love."

"Thank you Silverpetal. I see you have had your kits. All well then. What did you want to meet me here for?"

"I'm leaving the Clans for good. I can't stay here. I have broken the warrior code when I mated with their father and having these kits. I love them with my whole heart but I can't let them suffer at the claws of our cruel leader. Ratstar is bloodthirsty lately. He would kill my kits if I stayed. To make things worse, I told him I never loved him and even though I told him I would be his mate, the kits I was carrying were not his. They were the kits of the tom I love. He clawed at me and I ran for it. I can't ever come back. You must take my she-kits. I want them to live a normal life, like their father. The tom kit will have to come with me. He looks so much like his father to stay here. I would only trust my kits to you, and I know you have the extra milk to share with them. Will you please take them, raise them as your own, and don't tell them where they come from. I don't want them to hate me or their father."

"I promise you Silverpetal. These kits will be loved. I will tell everyone that they are my kits. I promise you they will never be treated as outcasts."

Silverpetal licked her she-kits motherly and nosed them over to her friend. "This one," she indicated the smaller of the two she-kits with a flick of her tail, "looks like me but a bit darker. She will be called Ivykit. The other she-kit will be called Moonkit. You will raise them well, I'm sure of it. StarClan watches over you and the kits. Farewell Orangewhisker." Silverpetal pressed herself against her friend and took her remaining kit, Stonekit, and headed away, towards the mountains, hoping the Tribe cats still remembered the kindness that Clan cats brought to them several seasons ago, long before her time.

Orangewhisker watched her leave, picked up the mewling kits and found a safe place to sleep until she could make it back to the RiverClan camp. She just hoped her best friend would make it safely to the mountains and she could fulfill her promise to raise the kits right.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Moonkit. Moonkit. Wake up sleepy head," Orangewhisker's mewed. Her soothing voice was sweet to Moonkit's ears, but she was getting tired of hearing it. Moonkit opened her eyes to see that Ivykit was waiting on her to wake up, while Gingerkit snickered.

"It's sunhigh! About time you wake up!" Gingerkit was teasing.

"Leave me alone Gingerkit," Moonkit purred with a shove as she got up. She padded towards the nursery entrance. "Come on Ivykit and Gingerkit! Let's go talk to the apprentices!"

Orangewhisker grabbed Moonkit by the scruff and started grooming the top of her head. "You kits need to leave them alone. They are probably busy training to become great RiverClan warriors. You will be one day too."

Something about the sound of becoming a warrior of RiverClan didn't sound right to Moonkit, but she shrugged it off and wriggled free of her mother's grasp. She pelted out the den and ran as quick as her tiny kit legs would carry her. Unfortunately for Moonkit, she ran straight into Dewheart.

"Where's the fire, Moonkit?" Dewheart laughed and bent down to lick his little kit. At that moment, Gingerkit and Ivykit bounded over. Gingerkit lunged toward his dad. Dewheart rolled onto his back and let Gingerkit have the victory. Moonkit and Ivykit watched Dewheart and Gingerkit for a few heartbeats before looking at each other and sneaking towards the edge of camp.

"Ivykit, you stay here. I'm going to go tell Beetlekit, Thistlekit, and Ripplekit to join us!" Moonkit ran off towards the nursery and stuck her head through a tiny hole in the back. No one knew about this hole except the kits in the Clan. Beetlekit came bounding up towards her and licked her ear.

"Hey Moonkit! What are you up to?"

"Hey Beetlekit. Get Thistlekit and Ripplekit and all three of you join me and Ivykit outside the camp for a meeting!"

Beetlekit dipped his head and padded to his litter mates to whisper that Moonkit called for a meeting while Moonkit slipped out of camp. Ivykit followed behind her to their meeting place.

"Why are we meeting here? I don't think we are supposed to be out of camp like this," Ivykit mewed, looking over her shoulder to see if someone had followed.

"Relax Ivykit. They won't tell us that we can't be warriors. I can't wait until we get to train together one day! We are going to be the best warriors in all the Clans!" Moonkit stopped before she continued when she saw the worried look on her sister's face and scented the other kits padding up. _I'll just ask her what she is worried about later. Can't be too bad._

"Hey beautiful. Heard you wanted me," Thistlekit came up to Moonkits side and licked her cheek. Moonkit jumped a little and scurried over to her sister's side, annoyed that Thistlekit was amused by her reaction.

"I decided that we should practice being warriors and running a Clan for one day when we are older!" Moonkit squealed in delight.

"What does that mean?" Ripplekit mewled shyly.

"It means that we will have a kit Clan!"

"Moonkit, what are you saying?" Ivykit flashed her sister a warning glance as she said this, but Moonkit just nudged her and jumped up.

"Come on guys! Look, I will be the leader, Moonstar! Our Clan will be called MoonClan, since I came up with the idea. Unless you kits don't want to do this."

"I'm in!" Beetlekit got into a hunter's crouch and acted like he was stalking a piece of prey before pouncing on a fallen leaf.

"Since you have spoken up first, you shall be my trusted deputy!" Moonkit padded forward and licked his shoulder. Beetlekit licked her shoulder back.

"I'll join MoonClan too," Thistlekit purred as he moved towards Moonkit. Moonkit licked his shoulder and he did the same.

"If my brothers seem so fine with it then I guess I will be glad to be a warrior of MoonClan," Ripplekit mewed as she took her turn.

"I will be the medicine kit, if you want me to be," Ivykit dipped her head at her sister, who looked at her shocked. _What if Ivykit was worried because she wants to be RiverClan's next medicine cat! Oh I really must ask her why she looked worried!_ Moonkit dipped her head back at her sister, still shocked.

"I am glad we all agree on this. I think this will be fun! As leader, I say that we head back to RiverClan camp for now before we are missed. Wouldn't want to get in trouble."

The five kits headed back into camp and started fighting with each other like most kits do. All except Ivykit, who ran to Juniperberry's den to watch her work. Moonkit wrestled with Thistlekit while Beetlekit had Ripplekit pinned to the ground. Moonkit dropped down and when Thistlekit started to crash his paws down on top of her, she rolled to the side. Thistlekit stumbled slightly from the surprise and Moonkit took her chance to trip him and pin him down. All three kits stared at her in wide eyed amazement. Moonkit felt their stares burn into her pelt and backed off of Thistlekit. The embarrassment she felt only heightened when she saw Minnowstar watching her from the HighStone and Juniperberry running towards her with great speed. Ivykit had gone to stand beside Ripplekit, a knowing look on her face.

"What did I miss?" Moonkit asked, the fur along her spine beginning to stand on end.

"Moonkit, prepare yourself for a hard life. You will be watched. I think you are part of a prophecy and Juniperberry has been keeping her eyes on you. She told Minnowstar to do the same. We watched you fight. Where did you learn those moves?"

"I may have…..left the camp to watch Fishpaw train…..he is a strong apprentice and I picked up on some of his moves. I admire the fighting spirit in him. Is it wrong that I watched him fight?"

"The way you moved was not like a RiverClan cat. Or at least that's what Juniperberry said. She's a wise cat, Moonkit, and though I may not know what the prophecy is, I wouldn't doubt that you could be the cat that fulfills it," Ivykit still looked worried and padded to her sister's side. She gave Moonkit a comforting lick before bounding over to Juniperberry's side. There was no doubt in Moonkit's mind that Ivykit wanted to be the next medicine cat. But was she really part of a prophecy? She sat down and thought about things. That would explain why she had such weird dreams at nights sometimes. It was always about fighting and a place with many rocks and a stream. It wasn't like RiverClan. In fact, it wasn't like a Clan at all. The dreams always confused her.

Moonkit got up, nodded her head at Ripplekit, gave Thistlekit and Beetlekit a nudge, and bounded to the nursery to lay down by her mother's side. Gingerkit was waiting there, looking at her like she was crazy. She licked her brother's ear and curled up next to her mom, letting Orangewhisker groom her. Normally, she would have tried to escape, but right now she was tired out from the day's events. Things would be much better once she became an apprentice and could practice her fighting without the burning stares from Minnowstar and Juniperberry.


End file.
